Amalgamating Buttons & Potatoes

Another way for amalgamating is the open fire method with a potato. In this a medium sized potato is used and is cut in half and a little hole is carved out in the middle of the potato with a spoon. The depression or hole should be a lot bigger than the amalgam. The amalgam is then put on a metal sheet and or on a frying pan and the potato is set over it. The pan is put on the fire and is heated for twenty minutes or longer. You should not attempt to do this anyways because there will be fumes of the mercury escaping from the bottom of the potato and because of this the operation is not safe.

After the potato has been cooked for a long enough time, it is then taken out and if all the mercury is gone from the amalgam, you have gotten the job done, if it has not been completed then it needs to be heated again and continued for a little longer amount of time. After the button is ready it then needs to be taken out and the potato needs to be crushed and thrown away. There are the most commonly known of methods of transforming little amounts of amalgam in the field. If you consider using either of these methods (which we highly recommend you don’t) make sure it is done in the open and that the wind is blowing the mercury fumes away from you. This process is no longer done anymore.